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EDMONTON – The Alberta government is redefining public-sector labour relations with an overhaul of the province’s collective bargaining model and a new approach to essential services, Premier Jim Prentice announced Monday.
A new working group, spearheaded by Alberta Justice deputy minister Tim Grant, is charged with creating a co-ordinated and long-term approach to public-sector labour negotiations, Prentice said during a lunchtime speech to the Rotary Club at the Sutton Place Hotel.

Treasury Board President Tony Clement said federal unions spurned the “olive branch” he extended by inviting them to take part in discussions on a new short-term disability plan that will replace banked sick leave in Canada’s public service.
Clement said he was disappointed all 17 federal unions refused to have any part in the consultations Treasury Board is having to discuss the framework of a proposed short-term disability plan for Canada’s public servants before the two sides hammer out the details at the bargaining table.

OTTAWA — Transport Minister Lisa Raitt is defending Canada Post’s decision to phase out urban mail delivery over the next five years while hiking the price of stamps, amid a growing outcry over cuts at the Crown corporation.
The move from door-to-door delivery to community mailboxes will be rolled out over the next five years, starting in the second half of 2014, and affect about one-third of Canadian households, the Crown corporation announced Wednesday. The change will not affect rural households.

VANCOUVER — B.C.’s half-a-million public school students got a two week jump on their holidays, but they could still end up cracking open the books for summer school.
As the teachers’ strike and lockout drags on, their employer has asked the B.C. Labour Relations Board to ramp up its essential services order.
The BC Public School Employers’ Association has asked the board to compel teachers back to the classroom for summer remedial programs, for students in custodial facilities and hospitals and for students in year-round schools.

The federal government and Canada’s striking diplomats reached a tentative agreement Thursday in their unprecedented and lengthy labour dispute.
The union and government have been at odds since the spring as the union’s 1,350 members have been staging rotating job action at the Foreign Affairs headquarters in Ottawa and more than a dozen missions abroad.

TORONTO — An Ontario judge has found that the provincial government “substantially interfered” with teachers’ right to collective bargaining.
The governing Liberals imposed contracts on teachers in 2012 that froze some of their wages and limited their ability to strike. Several unions took the government to court, arguing that Bill 115 violated their constitutional rights.
Ontario Superior Court Judge Thomas Lederer issued his decision on Thursday, ruling in favour of the unions.

Journalists and columnists at the Globe and Mail refused to attach their names to their work Monday as contract negotiations between the union and the paper’s management neared a breaking point.
If you're wondering where Globe and Mail bylines/columnists are this morning, part of one-day action during contract talks #bylinestrike

Canada’s railways welcomed Marc Garneau as Canada’s new transport minister Wednesday, expressing optimism that the former astronaut would help thaw a relationship that became positively frigid under the Conservatives.
“The reaction I have to (Garneau’s appointment) is one of delight, really,” said Michael Bourque, president of the Railway Association of Canada, which represents more than 50 freight and passenger railways.
“He’ll bring a really fresh perspective to a lot of the issues.”